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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27734602">Some Orders Must Be Carried Out</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/epicmusic42/pseuds/epicmusic42'>epicmusic42</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>On Recovery When You're Immortal [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Mechanisms (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dehumanization, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Manipulation, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Implied/Referenced Murder, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mentioned Dr Carmilla (Dr. Carmilla), Orders, but TS and Aurora are the only ones on screen, the other mechs are sorta there too, this is literally just Who Killed Dr Carmilla in ORWYI</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:35:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,939</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27734602</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/epicmusic42/pseuds/epicmusic42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There are certain orders which, once issued, <b>Must</b> be carried out as ordered, no matter the cost and no matter what other orders might be given after them.</p><p>The Toy Soldier knows this. The Toy Soldier has always known this. If it were Real, then it thinks it might fear the day those Orders are issued. But it is not Real and so it does not. </p><p>However, it thinks it may know what those Orders are now. Or at least, it knows how to get them, who can give them. ...if it were Real it thinks it would want them now.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>On Recovery When You're Immortal [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1788319</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>70</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>The Toy Soldier Has Rights</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Some Orders Must Be Carried Out</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Chapter Content Warnings:<br/>- references to self-harm, suicidal behavior, manipulation, mind control, etc.<br/>- dehumanization (TS's not Real thing)<br/>- just. all the associated TS warnings</p><p>This is literally just the answer to "who killed Dr. Carmilla" in On Recovery When You're Immortal" ...well, and some hints as to what the hell the inside of TS's head looks like.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I Believe I Would Like An Order, Ship-Aurora-Ma'am, Please!”</p><p>
  <strong>I do not understand what you mean Toy Soldier. Why would you want an order?</strong>
</p><p>“There Are Some Orders Which Must Be Carried Out As Ordered Regardless Of What Other Orders May Be Issued.”</p><p>It was shaking. If it was Real it was quite certain it would be raging. It wasn’t quite sure why it didn’t just pretend to rage.</p><p>The sight of its friend Tim in the Doctor’s lab had almost made it question if it wasn’t Real after all it had pretended to be scared so well. It didn’t want to keep pretending to feel after that.</p><p>That had been nearly two weeks ago though so it didn’t think that was why it wasn’t. It had seen Tim and pretended to be afraid very very good. It had even convinced the Doctor! Then it went and found First-Mate-Jonny and told him the Doctor had Tim and her lab and was planning to make him all better and wasn’t that grand! This way they could all be friends forever!</p><p>He had shot it of course. It had known he would. Its friend Jonny wasn’t okay. It had had to take away his gun so that he would stop shooting himself long enough for enough of his brain to regrow so that enough of his ears worked so that it could tell him that one of his partners was still alive even though the Moon Kaiser had tried to kill them both.</p><p>Jonny had looked so terrified it had wondered if it should tell him that he didn’t need to pretend and that if he wanted to he should work on his scared face because his was too much to be Real. He had rushed off before it could decide though.</p><p>It hadn’t actually seen him since.</p><p>It knew where he was though.</p><p>He was in the Doctor’s lab with the Doctor, helping her fix Tim so that he wouldn’t ever die which was a good thing it thought.</p><p>None of the others seemed to think so though.</p><p>Nastya had disappeared when Jonny walked into the lab. It had been forced to ask Aurora for help in order to find her. She said that if the Doctor was letting Jonny back into the lab then she had found a way to make sure that he didn’t do anything to protect them from her.</p><p>She was the only one who had ever seen the Doctor let him into her lab when one of the others was in there. Brian said he thought that she used to let Jonny in but that Jonny had tried to stop her from hurting him and she’d banned him ever since.</p><p>Ashes and Ivy both said that anytime she got them in the lab the first thing the Doctor did was make sure Jonny wasn’t there. If he was there then it always hurt less somehow. Sometimes he’d give them a way to escape. Sometimes he’d just distract her enough that she’d give up on whatever she was doing.</p><p>If it could, it thought that it’d <em>hate</em> the Doctor. She was not a good Captain or a good Commander and did not deserve to hold either position.</p><p>There were some orders which could not be overruled; it was certain of that. It did not know what they were or why those orders in particular would always stand as though they were reissued every second once they were given the first time. It knew that if it received those orders, its friends would no longer be scared that Jonny was helping the Doctor in the lab. It knew that Aurora would be able to figure out the orders and give them.</p><p>All of this had led it to this conversation.</p><p>It had found an airlock that was slightly malfunctional and it had sat down and told Aurora that it would like an order. She was confused. That made sense. It did not ask for orders, either they would be given or they would not. It was not Real so it did not have opinions or desires or needs and so there was no reason for it to ask for an order when it didn’t have one.</p><p>(If it was very good at pretending that it had wants and needs and opinions then that was only for the comfort of its friends. It was not Real and so it didn’t have any of those things).</p><p>“There Are Some Orders Which Must Be Carried Out As Ordered Regardless Of What Other Orders May Be Issued.”</p><p>She did not answer it for a long moment.</p><p>
  <strong>What types of orders? Why would you ask for such orders?</strong>
</p><p>“They Are Very Important Orders, Ship-Aurora-Ma’am! If They Are Given Once Then They Are Given Always And Often!”</p><p>Aurora was silent for another moment.</p><p>
  <strong>Why are you bringing this up now Toy Soldier?</strong>
</p><p>It made the bobbing motion with its head that Jonny had taught it to mimic swallowing. It had gotten very good at pretending to have emotions for its friends. It was pretending to be nervous without even thinking about it.</p><p>“If These Orders Are Issued Then The Crew Will No Longer Be Afraid Of The Doctor Letting Jonny Into Her Lab When Someone Else Is In There!”</p><p>It didn’t know if it could give her any more. It hoped Aurora could give it the orders and its friend could be happy.</p><p>
  <strong>If I give you these orders then the Captain will leave and not return?</strong>
</p><p>It felt like that was correct. It hesitated for a moment, something about that was wrong.</p><p>“I Believe So, Yes! I Am Uncertain That That Is Entirely True Though, Ship-Aurora-Ma’am!”</p><p>The Aurora was silent once more. This time she was silent for longer than before. It began to fear that she would not give it the orders.</p><p>She did eventually speak though. This time using her own voice, the one Nastya had painstakingly fashioned for her over a millennia, the one that it knew she felt bad for hardly using even if she could not bring herself to speak with it except on rare occasions.</p><p>“I believe I may know what the orders you’re looking for are, Toy Soldier. If I am incorrect or you know what they are, I would appreciate you informing me of such. Do you understand?”</p><p>“Yes Ma’am!” It fired off a crisp salute at her nearest camera.</p><p>“Good. Your orders are simple.” Despite the roughness that always came through from how unused to using her voice Aurora was, she still managed to harden it into a true Order. “You are to take whatever actions are necessary to ensure that Doctor Carmilla ceases to be a threat to the crew claimed by myself, the starship Aurora, up to and including her removal from my halls. Once that is done, you will ensure that my files are updated so that she is no longer the Captain of this vessel and continue to do so as long as necessary. Am I understood, Toy Soldier?”</p><p>It felt them snap into place. For the first time it actually wondered if it was Real such was the weight of these Orders. Only for a moment though, the thought was quickly brushed aside as it snapped its rightful Commander a salute and a crisp “Yes Ma’am!” before rushing off to carry out her Orders.</p><p>By the time it had taken its first step towards doing so, she had already repeated the Orders. It nearly paused before it realized that Aurora was not the one repeating the Orders.</p><p>No. It was her voice and her cadence and her weight as its Commander. It was not her though. The closest it could get to describing what it was repeating the Orders, beginning again as soon as it ended, unceasing, unending, forever, was that it was itself saying them. Its lips did not move and the Orders were not within its thoughts. But somehow, it was repeating its Commander’s Orders to it ceaselessly.</p><p>It would carry them out. It would ensure that Doctor Carmilla was removed from the starship Aurora in a manner that ensured none of its friends were harmed and that she would be hard pressed to return or even survive. Then, it went to the control rooms, deep within the bowels of the ship where even Nastya had not dared wonder.</p><p>It did not know if she did not come here out of respect for Aurora or if Aurora had not allowed it out of fear that she may prove to not truly love her. Which it was did not matter. It had a job to do.</p><p>It pulled up the list of crew members and their positions. It erased Doctor Carmilla’s name from the list and cleared the position of Captain.</p><p>The programs demanded it name a Captain.</p><p>It stared for a moment. It did not know what possessed it to put the name it did. The name was useless. It did not match any of the crew claimed by the starship Aurora. The program accepted it though.</p><p>It closed the files. It began to leave the control rooms, proceeding to the deck where it Knew that the crew claimed by the starship Aurora would be gathering to discuss what Aurora had just informed them all of.</p><p>A screen descended from the ceiling into its view. <strong>Toy Soldier?</strong></p><p>“Yes Commander-Aurora-Ma’am!”</p><p>There was a pause before her voice came through the speakers.</p><p>“I have two last tasks for you, Toy Soldier. I would like you to delete my records of our conversation as well as the results of it, and then I would like you to forget them as well. Are you okay with doing this?”</p><p>It did not like being ordered to forget. If it had opinions it would appreciate her asking it before giving the order. It knew that if they both forgot then there would be no one who knew what had happened and its friends would be safe though.</p><p>It nodded. “I Will Do It, Commander-Aurora-Ma’am! I Cannot Forget Without It Being A Proper Order Though!”</p><p>“Very well. ...Thank you Toy Soldier. You have done a great server to my crew today.” With that her voice hardened into an Order. “When you are done deleting my footage of the events which allowed and surrounded the death of Doctor Carmilla, you will place yourself in a safe location and forget the events allowing and surrounding the death of Doctor Carmilla and remain there for three days before you emerge. Am I understood, Toy Soldier?”</p><p>It fired one last crisp salute at her screen before turning and returning to the control rooms. It pulled up the appropriate files and carefully deleted the footage, taking care to replace it with appropriate footage as needed.</p><p>When it was done it walked to the closet nearest the engine room where it knew Nastya was the only one liable to find it and sat down.</p><p>It gave itself five minutes to savour the feeling of having the Orders that would never cease, of having a good and rightful Commander that it chose. It gave itself five minutes to pretend that it was Real and had feelings and was giving up something that mattered.</p><p>And when its five minutes were up, it forgot.</p>
<hr/><p>The Toy Soldier got up and began making its way to the commons area. It wasn’t sure why it had spent the past three days in the closet nearest the engine room where none of the crew except Nastya might find it. For some reason it had though.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So yeah. that's a thing. I finally admitted this piece was done after <em>waaay</em> too long too.</p><p>If I missed any content warnings feel free to let me know and I'll add them. </p><p>Quick Comments Reaction Code (basically, react using these and it acts as an auto comment button):<br/>❤️️ = I love this story!<br/>😳 = this was hot!<br/>💐 = thank you for sharing this<br/>🍵 = tea spilled<br/>🍬 = so sweet and fluffy!<br/>🚔 = you’re under arrest! the writing’s too good!<br/>😲 = I NEED THE NEXT CHAPTER<br/>😢 = you got me right in the feels<br/>🤯 = mind blown<br/>🤬 = god damn cliffhanger<br/>😫 = whyyyyyyy?!?!?<br/>(Thanks to violetsmoak for the comment code)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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